GO! Girls Outdoors

I was a little sad to be leaving Canada.  No more super friendly people on street corners, no more Tim Horton’s, no more of the exchange rate being more or less in our favour, no more friends and family to visit and catch up with.  I boarded the Victoria Clipper that travels between Victoria and Seattle feeling a little down.  No one would meet me at the docks, I wouldn’t have a friendly face at the other end to tell about my adventures, and Dave stayed in Canada because a week of meetings in Colorado wasn’t exactly his idea of a fun time.  I was also exhausted because we’d been on the road pretty much full time for the past 3 weeks and I hadn’t slept in the same bed for more than 2 nights since Sioux Lookout way back at the end of March.  I was also going to be in Seattle for just one night before jetting off to Colorado for a week, and I’d organised two meetings which meant I had no time to check things out (I was coming back to Seattle anyway so that was ok).  So, getting back to the US wasn’t a particularly exciting prospect for me at the time.

After seeing that the hostel wasn’t too far away from the docks, I decided to walk with my pack.  What the map didn’t show, however, was the hill that links the waterfront and the main streets is very steep and quite famous, the Pike Hill Climb.  I can proudly say that I’ve done the Pike Hill Climb weighed down with a lot of camping gear, climbing gear and two packs!  Then I had the wrong address for the hostel and walked around a lot admiring the flashing neon lights advertising girls that were “Always Open, Never Clothed” and being stared at by the homeless people on the streets. 

Luckily, especially after my reluctance to leave Canada and my adventures finding a place to stay, the next day in Seattle got my spirits up.  It started on the bus that I just caught after losing my way in the rain.  The bus drivers in Seattle are the most helpful drivers I’ve encountered so far, and the bus driver on this particular bus had Attitude.  When some people started mouthing off about the fact he wouldn’t open the back door, he gave it right back but in the most cheerful way possible, advising the passengers “well, sheeeeyat lay-deee, do I stand outside your cubicle and tell you what to do when you do your job?  Hell no!  You better go get yo-self a new job or a better coffee guy cos you got some problems there that your therapist ain’t getting to” and so on.  He had the whole bus smiling and calling out advice or comments.  When I realised I’d got on the wrong bus, he apologised profusely and gave me a free ride and a transfer because he couldn’t drop me where I needed to go  - despite the fact I was only 4 blocks away from where I needed to go, and it was my fault that I got on the wrong bus.

I was making my way to the offices of Passages Northwest, a sister organisation to Girlventures in San Francisco that I visited and profiled earlier in the trip.  Erica told me all about the organisation and showed me around the office - look out for the profile coming soon!  She then sent me on my way with another bus transfer and directions to my next meeting, with Emily from an organisation called Rite of Passage Journeys.  I won’t say too much more about these meetings here because the profiles are coming, but suffice it to say that I was inspired by the work they were doing with girls in the outdoors.  Keep watching the site for the profiles!

I left Seattle that day much happier and excited about seeing new places and meeting new people.  Despite the famous Seattle drizzle I had an inspiring day, which is a testament to the inspiring work being done for girls in the outdoors in the city, the interesting and passionate people who manage these programs, and the cheerful Seattle bus drivers! 

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